4 Ways Nutritionists Can Make Money Without Seeing Clients 1-on-1

Throughout your training and education as a nutrition professional, you are set up to work with clients in a one-on-one setting. You’re taught to counsel, create meal plans, supplement protocols, and to support the health of individuals.

Then you graduate and realize that building a client base takes time! During the first few months after graduation, you might barely have any clients. Not to mention the off-season (like the holiday season) when no one wants to see their nutritionist.

The good news is that you don’t need to put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to your business. In fact, creating multiple revenue streams is a better way to ensure the long-term health of your nutrition practice!

So today, we are going to share some surprising ways you can make money that have nothing to do with seeing clients.

1. Consulting for Restaurants

More than ever, people are demanding to know what is in their food. Restaurants are hustling to keep up with this trend, but sometimes even their best efforts can be a little off-the-mark. This can result in frustrated customers, bad press, and a damaged reputation.

Consulting with a nutrition professional can help foodservice businesses improve their healthy menu offerings, strengthen their reputation, and improve their relationship with customers by providing more transparency about their products.

Here are a few services you can offer to restaurants as a wellness professional:

Consulting on new menu items, and providing insight into current trends.

Recipe modification to improve nutrition.

Helping them accurately communicate the health benefits of certain dishes.

Training chefs on healthier culinary practices.

If you’re interested in getting started with foodservice consulting, you should be food-savvy, and prior restaurant experience will be an asset. You’ll also need to be comfortable pitching yourself to potential clients, since nutrition consulting isn’t yet an industry norm. You can start by sending a letter, letting them know who you are, how they could use your help and why you’d be a great fit to work with them.

How to Charge For This Service: Every project will be different. You may want to start with an hourly rate. Some clients will prefer to pay you a monthly retainer for ongoing services.

Tip: You can use That Clean Life for Business to create standardized recipes for professional kitchens, and to analyze nutrition information per portion. All nutrition information is pulled in from the USDA Food Composition Database.

2. Corporate Wellness

Illness is expensive, not just for individuals, but for their employers too. Sick days, poor productivity, time off for major illnesses, and covering medical fees are just a few ways that poor health affects large companies. As a wellness professional, you can be a valuable asset in helping protect employees health, and therefore the employer's bottom line!

Getting into corporate wellness takes effort, but it is a great way to create another revenue stream in your business. Look at the larger offices in your area, and ask your friends and family if their employers provide any kind of wellness initiatives.

Once you’ve found at least one company you want to work with, approach them with a proposal including what problem you can solve for them, what type of program you want to implement, what it will cost, and what the benefits will be. Be sure to spend a lot of time researching and writing this proposal.

Here are some ideas for services you can offer in a corporate setting:

Monthly wellness workshops.

Individual health assessments and custom meal planning.

Weekly lunch and learn seminars.

Group programs or challenges.

Corporate wellness comes with a lot of research and negotiation so get ready to pull out your most professional persona and to follow-up frequently. In the end, the payoff is worth it. Even if they just book you for a single workshop, you get exposure to a lot of potential one-on-one clients and your foot is now in the door.

How to Charge For This Service: Depending on the program, you might be paid per workshop, per day, or per program. When pricing your services, be sure to factor in the amount of planning you will have to do, as well as the fact that you’ll be working with larger groups.

Tip: You can use That Clean Life for Business to create the resources for your corporate clients such as meal plans, shopping lists, recipe books and prep guides. You can even include the corporate logo on recipes and meal plans, which the company will love!

3. Recipe & Content Development

If you’re savvy in the kitchen and take good food photos, then recipe and content development are great ways to generate income! Food companies, both large and small, usually need help creating recipes that feature their products. This is different from sponsored content on your own platforms because you are selling the content directly to the company.

Think of health-oriented food companies or companies who could benefit from having healthier recipes that use their products. Make a list of the brands you really want to work with. Reach out to them and introduce yourself, plus let them know how you can work together.

Include this type of information in your outreach:

Who you are, your background and relevant experience.

Examples of your work (recipes, photography, etc.).

What kind of ideas you have for incorporating their products.

These projects are not only a great way to make more money, they also create valuable industry relationships and help you gain experience and insight.

How to Charge For This Service: You may be paid hourly or a set rate for the project. Factors such as exposure and credit on their website, the type of project, and amount of work will usually influence what you charge.

Tip: If you aren't as savvy with a camera, you can do some freelance health writing. Check out UpWork, which connects freelancers with those looking to hire.

4. Sponsored Content

If you have your own blog, Instagram, or other social media that you create content for, you can leverage this to earn income as well! When you are able to create awesome, high-quality content and share it with an engaged audience, you add more value to the brands that work with you.

You don’t necessarily need to have a large following, but you should have an engaged audience and produce consistent, quality content. To get started, create a media kit that contains: an introduction to who you are, stats on your followers, examples of your work, and the cost of working with you. Once you have all of this, you can consider reaching out to brands or the agencies who work with them.

Here are some ideas for how brands might sponsor your content:

Write a blog post reviewing their product/supplement.

Create a recipe featuring their product.

Compare their product to a competitor.

Talk about how you use a product in your own life.

It’s worth mentioning that if your social channels become a steady stream of ads you may lose some engagement. Always ensure a brand is a good fit to work with, that you actually believe in their product, and that you are comfortable being associated with the company. There are a lot of opportunities to get paid, but if you want to create long-term success you should be selective about what you say “yes” to.

How to Charge For This Service: You can have a standard fee you charge per post. Consider your scope of influence, quality of content, and specialization when setting your prices.

Tip: If there is a specific brand you want to work with, look for the PR agency that manages their influencer marketing. These agencies have budgets to sponsor content, and they'll usually get back to you faster. Plus if they think you're a good fit for other projects they'll invite you to join those as well.

These are just a few ways you can use your skills to generate more income without booking consultations. If you've had success with an untraditional income stream, we'd love to hear it! Share with us in the comments below.